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Newsletter Home > September, 2008
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Enterasys, Siemens Working to Finalize Joint Venture
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Teams from Siemens and Enterasys are still aiming at a late September target date for finalizing the joint venture the two companies announced at the end of July.
The anticipated JV is expected to combine the products of Siemens Enterprise Communications, Enterasys and SER Solutions, Inc., (contact center software); the net result being a far stronger value proposition for the voice/data/contact center communications and secure wired/wireless networks space. The joint venture will be 51% owned by the Gores Group, the private equity firm that owns Enterasys, 49% owned by Siemens, and will be entitled to use the Siemens brand. On an operational level, business will be driven by Gores. Mark Stone from Gores will be the Chairman and interim CEO of the joint venture, which is being fueled by a combined investment of $550 million and 15,000 employees in 80 countries.
The two companies have been integrating each other's products for ten years, according to a company statement.
Although Enterasys has a portfolio of security-enabled LAN switches, this move provides access to a much-needed suite of unified communications and VoIP offerings through Siemens' HiPath and OpenScape product lines.
Siemens, meanwhile, has been looking to sell its Enterprise Communications group. Two years ago the company spun off its carrier communications business to a joint venture with Nokia called Nokia Siemens Networks.
"I think our worldwide market share will make us a number three provider of enterprise voice and data solutions," said Enterasys marketing vice president Trent Waterhouse. "I think you see customer satisfaction scores go up, and I think that you'll see a general partner community and the installed base community become happier in terms of how they work with Siemens enterprise communications."
Service, maintenance and support contract terms are to remain unchanged. Additional acquisitions incorporating other technologies are anticipated.
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ProCurve, Nortel Buy Companies
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August was a busy month for mergers and acquisitions. Among the highlights, HP announced that it will acquire Colubris Networks, Inc., and then integrate the offerings of the privately-held, Waltham, Mass.-based wireless vendor into its ProCurve Networking product portfolio. This move is expected to expand ProCurve's reach into vertical markets such as hospitality, transportation, healthcare, manufacturing, service provider and education. The acquisition is subject to certain closing conditions and is expected to close by the end of October. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Nortel acquired two companies. DiamondWare provides high-definition, proximity-based 3D positional voice technology to support sound in virtual web and voice communications. The technology has been deployed in gaming environments and in U.S. military tactical intercom systems, and also by a broad range of carriers and equipment manufacturers. DiamondWare's products use wideband, stereo capability and custom spatial positioning to deliver real-time interactions in 3D virtual worlds and meetings, online gaming systems, and multimedia applications. Nortel's statement described one scenario in which DiamondWare's technology allows each individual to hear other participants in relation to how far away they are in the virtual space.
Nortel plans to leverage DiamondWare's technology across its Carrier and Enterprise portfolios to enhance its multimedia , voice conferencing and VoIP solutions, plus a variety of new advanced research projects.
The acquisition costs, including employee retention and transaction costs, were approximately $7 million in cash, plus up to an additional $3 million to DiamondWare security holders based on achievement of future business milestones over the next 40 months.
Pingtel is the second company acquired by Nortel in its August shopping spree. The new acquisition is expected to provide new software capabilities to Nortel's enterprise unified communications portfolio, as well as additional research and development capabilities. This transaction brings Pingtel's existing original equipment manufacturer (OEM) relationship with Nortel in-house. In the near term, Pingtel will bring critical software elements to Nortel's SMB unified communications solution based on the Nortel Software Communication System 500 (SCS500).
Under the terms of the agreement, Nortel will acquire the key assets of Pingtel from Bluesocket Inc., however the financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Pingtel employees will be integrated into Nortel's Billerica, Massachusetts facilities.
Cisco Takes Aim at Greenhouse Gases, Cloud-Based Collaboration
Cisco announced a plan to reduce its greenhouse gas footprint by 25% over the next four years, leveraging technologies that the San Jose-based networking vendor has developed such as TelePresence and its Connected Workplace (collaboration) offerings. The company also announced the application of PostPath, an email and software vendor whose products will likely be used in the development of cloud-based collaboration platforms.
HP Enhances PartnerONE Program
HP announced changes to its PartnerONE program aimed at helping partners differentiate themselves, and also to provide them with simplified access to program benefits. The enhancements, which become effective Nov. 1, include benefits around partner promotions, financing, support, training, rebates, marketing support, growth incentives, assigned channel sales support, and a streamlined membership structure designed to reduce program administration costs.
Westcon Rolls out Solutions for Mobile Workforce
Westcon Group, Inc. announced that its MobilityPoint program now provides solutions developed specifically for the mobile worker. The solutions include a variety of products from a number of vendors, including Aruba, Ascom, Cisco, Meru, Motorola, Nokia, Nortel and Polycom. The solutions will be made available through channel partners working with the Tarrytown, NY-based distributor.
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On The Other Hand - Talent and the Telephone
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By: Ken Presti
A funny thing happened at a conference I attended a couple of weeks ago. I was sitting in a hotel ballroom listening to a speech with about thirty channel partners, most of whom were telephony agents and interconnects. The speaker asked the audience how many of them were having trouble finding skilled people to hire. Maybe one or two hands waved in the air, but that was about it.
If that question had been asked in a room with the same number of data partners, I'm pretty sure we'd have seen a lot more than a few hands raised. While I'm not 100% sure that I know why this is the case, I do have a theory. And that theory may underlie part of the IT channel's response to the shallowing of the talent pool.
My theory is that as telephony continues to move towards IP, the talent requirements are shifting in that direction also. This means that the role of the IT staff is growing while the role on the telecom side is shrinking. I would have assumed the volume of those jobs would be "correcting," to use the kinder, gentler vernacular, and that the people who ordinarily would have filled those jobs would have moved on to greener pastures. But perhaps that move to greener pastures is moving at a slower rate than I would have imagined.
Now I realize there's a huge difference between packets and circuits, but does it make sense for the IT side to pull more talent out of the telephony side. Certainly that's already happening, at least to some extent. But maybe the IT folks can look at doing that on a more systematic basis. I'm sure the telecom people won't exactly be on board with that, but industries do shift over time.
A number of other initiatives are already in place to address the talent shortage, mostly in the area of education and lead-sharing. Vendors, distributors, and even a few channel partners are all trying to get creative, and often using Web 2.0 technologies to make it happen.
It's hard to believe that there wouldn't be tons of young people wanting to get into tech. But career choices have trends of their own, and maybe things are not quite the same.
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